A study has found age and severity of underlying conditions exert significant influence on Covid-19 patient’s death.

Seoul National University Hospital Professor Lee Ho-jin and his team analyzed the impact on Covid-19 death based on age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), using data at the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service. 

The age-adjusted CCI is an indicator of how underlying diseases affect the patient’s death. The index quantifies the death risks of 19 accompanying diseases, such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, diabetes, dementia, liver disease and kidney disease. Besides, one point is added to the indicator every 10 years of age after 40. It found the higher the score, the higher the chance of death. The team validated the index by connecting it to the patients’ information that died from Covid-19. 

A research team led by (from left) Professor Lee Ho-jin, Cho Soo-ick and Yoon Susie from Seoul National University Hospital has found age and severity of underlying diseases significantly affect Covid-19 patient’s deaths (SNUH)
A research team led by (from left) Professor Lee Ho-jin, Cho Soo-ick and Yoon Susie from Seoul National University Hospital has found age and severity of underlying diseases significantly affect Covid-19 patient’s deaths (SNUH)

Researchers analyzed Covid-19 patients registered as of May 15, 2020. Out of 7,590 Covid-19 patients, 3 percent, or 227 people, died from the infection at the time.

After observing the causes of deaths, it found the most commonly associated disease was hypertension, which accounted for 68.7 percent, followed by diabetes (47.6 percent) and chronic lung disease (36.6 percent). Dementia, cancer, chronic kidney disease, and chronic liver disease were also significant risk factors of Covid-19 deaths. 

The team’s prediction of Covid-19 deaths using the CCI index showed significant similarities to the actual occurrence of hospitalized patients' severe conditions and death rates.

The researchers confirmed that scores calculated simply by inputting only age and underlying diseases could predict Covid-19 death with high accuracy.

“If the number of Covid-19 patients increases, national plans are needed to control resources for treating severely ill patients,” Professor Lee said. “If we can find risk factors that can predict the disease’s severity earlier, we can improve patient prognosis and allocate medical resources more efficiently.”

The study results were published in the latest issue of Scientific Reports. 
 

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